House at Birdham

Davies and Moro, Birdham, 1940

 

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View of the whole garden front 

M.O.Dell and H.L.Wainwright     Download Original

  • View of the whole garden front    
  • View from courtyard    
  • View of entrance courtyard    
  • Two windows in the garden front designed in relation to the view    
  • Front of house and screen wall    
  • Bay window commanding view down the river    
  • Elliptical staircase in entrance hall    
  • Flower window, stretching across entire length of the south wall of the drawing room    
  • Ground floor nursery    
  • Nursery    
  • Portion of living room surrounding fireplace    
  • Drawing of the house and surroundings    
  • Ground floor plan    
  • First floor plan    
  • Diagram showing the construction of the standard casement window    
  • Detail section through balustrade of balcony    

Modernist country house on the edge of Birdham Creek, Chichester

A decentralised type of plan was adopted for this country house, consisting of two separate blocks enclosing a small garden courtyard and linked by the staircase hall, forming a Z shape. Throughout the scheme there is a sequence of continual contact between inside and out.

The building has a frame-like enclosing shell from which certain portions of the interior are allowed to thrust out. The glass walled entrance to the house is accessed through a courtyard, spanning between the two brick blocks on either side.

The courtyard has a strongly marked entrance of its own in the form of a large frame cut in to a rubble screen wall, through which the visitor steps. It is designed as an extension to the hall, their unity being emphasised with the continuation of the brick exterior wall within the interior of the hall.

The western front of the house is planned to make the most of the remarkable view down Birdham Creek. It contains the living rooms, all of different proportions and directions of view and the owner’s suite. The east block contains all kitchen and service accommodation, children’s quarters, guest and staff bedrooms.

The walls of the house are ivory coloured brick with the screening wall from ochre-coloured sandstone.

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